Detentions and searches at NABU without a court order are justified in cases where treason is being investigated. Especially if it concerns cases of the Bureau's employees' connections with Russia. Lawyers and experts reacted to today's arrests and searches, calling the law enforcement actions legal.
Thus, People's Deputy, head of the parliamentary temporary investigative commission on the investigation of facts of possible corruption in law enforcement and judicial bodies Serhiy Vlasenko explained that conducting investigative actions without court orders does not contradict the law, and when it comes to investigating treason, it is justified.
We have recently also witnessed several criminal proceedings where there were leaks from the judicial system about certain investigative actions being carried out with the defendants, of course. Therefore, this can be a justification, especially when it comes to connections with the Russian Federation, connections with Yanukovych, and so on, and so on. Of course, this is a justified story
The People's Deputy reminded that Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine provides for the possibility of detaining a suspect and conducting investigative actions without court orders that grant permission for this. He also noted that NABU and SAP themselves quite often resort to applying this norm.
Former Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Baganets emphasized that NABU, among all pre-trial investigation bodies, allows the most information leaks.
"It is not inherent for them to truly ensure the observance of the secrecy of the pre-trial investigation. Their argument is very weak that they have the right to appeal these actions of SBU investigators, agreed upon by the prosecutor," he said.
The head of the temporary investigative commission and former Deputy Prosecutor General were supported by lawyer Oleh Shram, who called the conduct of investigative actions in this case without court orders entirely logical.
"Given that NABU has full access to the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, it is quite logical," he said.
Political expert Oleh Posternak is confident that NABU is not untouchable and must be held accountable for its actions.
"NABU and its numerous cohort of employees are not untouchable and privileged. For violating the law and working against state security, there must be immediate punishment. This is a huge blow to the reputation of this institution. Obviously, it needs a complete reboot and audit. Society is not ready to finance an office with state traitors and 'privileged' corrupt officials," he stated.
As reported today, SBU, SBI, and OGP employees are conducting over 70 searches of NABU employees.
In particular, Ruslan Magamedrasulov, head of the NABU territorial detective department, was detained on suspicion of aiding the Russian Federation. He is accused of mediating the sale of technical hemp to Dagestan, grown by his father. Also, during the investigation, law enforcement officers established that the high-ranking Bureau official had close contact with People's Deputy Fedir Khrystenko from the banned OPZZh party, who fled the country and cooperates with Russian special services and influences NABU's activities. He was charged with treason.